The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-04-10
THE LAST BUFFALO HUNT.
Experiences Of the Smithsonian Expe-
dition in Notable Hunting Grounds.
Deer Hunting on the Musselshell-The Trail
Of the Grizzly-A Bold Hunter Takes the
Back Track-A Bad GiveAWay.

Deer Hunting on the MusseIshell- Trail
of the Grizzly-A Bold Hunter Takes the
Back Track-A Bad Give-Away.
By William T. Hornadav. Author of 1.-Two Years in
the Jungle'-Copy righted.
VI.
After the death of fourteenth buffalo
there came time when 1t seemed necessary for
US to leave our favorte hunting ground q,xite
undisturbed for week so, in order that the
rest OF the buffalo might work back into it. 4Ac-
cordingly leaving McCanna and West to tale
care OF the camp, we tumbled a small amount
of plumber into our wagon, drove spare sad
die horses ahead of us, and, very early one
morning, pulled over toward tho Musselshell
river about twenty five miles to the west. There
was good trail all the way. and. by the time
the afternoon within an hour Of
setting, we were atop Of the high ridge, which
gave US our first view of our promised land.
And truly the panorama that spread out
before was an enchanting one Three miles
away ran the river. winding along between high
bluffs. which alternated with patches of gray
cottonwood and red willow that grew in tho mar
row. level bottom. Up from both sides of the
rivers course an endless succession of great,
yawning ravines. branching out as they assembled
the steep water shed into innumerable smaller
ravines, until the eye was lost in their may in
tricacies. Up in these rugged breaks" as they
are called, hiding under soft mantle Of green
the rough features Of desolate hill and hollow,
lay great patches of evergreen woods, composed
of pines and cedars. Those nearest us afforded
a refreshing contrast with the barren ground
hat lav hat hut in fhn dief
blended together until the whole valley OF the
rived seemed to be filled with evergreen woods.
1t was perfect visual feast to US ALL
Slowly and tOilsomely wound our way down
toward the river. The trail lay along 'hog-
back" and. although it seemed would never
get down to the river we finally reached tho
level bottom and brought up short at the edge OF
perpendicular bank just as darkness complete
| ~ enveopod US. We found ourselves in n regu-
| lar cul-desac. with the river bank before US,
| either side dreadful washout, reaching ay up
toward the hills. and all with banks twenty feet
| high and as straight as the wall of house. 1t
| was too dark to find our way out, we camped
| right there. In order to reach the water that
| lay 30 temptnely near we had to dig steps at a
| low point of the bank, so that both men and
| horses could tumble down and scramble up again
| without actual risk to bones body But for
| once in our lives we had plenty of frewood All
] about our camp lay huge cottonwood trunks
dead and dry. and a roaring camp fire eprang up
as il by magic. An abundance of good irewood
! was such luxury that. with one accord we all
| gathered it and piled cord apiece, more
| less, just to enjoy the luxury of having enough.
| The abundance of pure, crystal, clear-running
water in the river, Joined to the supply of fire.
| wood. made US feel we were quite hooked up"
| as the cowboys saw.
| But the luxuries provided for US at that camp
| ing place did not end with wood and water The
| afternoon after our arrival young black-tail
| buck came sauntering leisurely down the bed of
| one of the washouuA and just when it emerged
upon the pebbly brink of the river to take
drink of ice water Russell caught sight of it and
| ended its career with bullet from his Win
| chester. 1t fell within fifty yards of our camp
| like eourmands. While that carcass was still
warm Jim McNaney rode into camp with q
young white-tai.ed deer behind his saddle, and
thus another dainty was added to our bill of fare
| But even that was not all. AS if to induce us
to kill ourselves by gourmandzing choice
game. large flock of wild geese came during
| the second night and settled on the ice in the
river only two hundred yards below our camp
We paid them early visit with the shotgun
and killed three of them, two of which were
young, tender and beautifully fat. The next
day was Thanksgiving: the cold was ten degrees
| below zero, and, having no tent we camped
| under the sky only. Boyd got up at o'clock,
| built roaring fire, dressed one of the BIRDS
stuffed it in capital style, and roasted it in the
Dutch oven. At sunrise We sat down to our
Thanksgiving dinner of savory roast goose,
cooked tomatoes stewed apples, fapjacks, syrup
and coffee 1t was feast fit for king, and I
only wish you had been there to enjoy 1t.
On the first days hunt Jim McNaney and l
went out together and struck into big tract of
evergreen timber which lay just east of our
camp. It was by all odds the strangest woods
ever sat foot in The surface was an endless suc-
cesson of little knols and ridges. divided by a
network of interlacing gullies. The ground WAS
dry and loose, and as bare of all grass and other
plant life as an ash pile. The stunted cedars
grew in little clunps, but not very thickly,
enarled, twisted and bristing on all sides with
dead limbs and roots ready to snap off at the
slightest touch. Often when a cedar grows q
knoll or a ridge the dirt is washed from around
it like so much loose sand, and tho roots are left
sticking out helpessly in mid air, where they
are dead and dry directly. Many of those twenty
foot cedars that had died and lost all their bark
were twisted from lowest root to topmost twig,
as if some giant hand had twisted them up out of
Excelsior" wood fiber. It struck mo that the
trees in Dante's Inferno must have looked just
like these-stunted, gnarled, twisted, blasted,
scraggy, worthless, and even dismal to look
upon. 1t takes stout heart and clear con-
science to hunt all day amid such surroundings
| without feeling of depression.
| Hero and there this wretched stuff is replaced
by genuine pine woods and even though the
| trees ridiculously small they pleasing
| substitute Their big brown cones that lie scat
tered thckly over the ground are good to look
upon.
Jim and soon got separated, and we did not
meet again until night. Although it was easy
y enough to ride silently through the openings,
with the horses tread muffled in the loose earth,
1t was i'm possible to keep from swapping off dry
| tWlgS now ana then. deer trackS were numer-
\ Gus, and presently Old Brownie and came upon
the fresh trail of elk. AS it was only about
six hours old we started to follow it. just for the
| fun of it, to what would turn up. The trail
/ led straight toward our camp, but before we
\ had gone half mile we suddenly found our elk's
tracks partly obliterated by the still fresher
tracks OF an immense Grizzly. Now" thought
I, here is my long-lost grizzly, at last" The
impression of the broad pear-shaped sole, and
of every toe and claw-pons was left most clearly
and pointedly in the loose soil. if big gorilla
Or Hottentot had been strolling that way, and
| they filled my soul with respect for their maker
The track Of the bears hind foot clever
| inches long and seven wide at the widest part
BAIT each man in our crowd was ambitious to xii
this first bear, and it was with a feeling Of gen
uine thankfulness that l turned Old Brownie
upon the trail of the grizzly. and made ready
| for scrimmage.
Before had gone two hundred yards. oul
soul in arms and eager for the fray, up came tn,
rraclts of two more grizzlies, and Joined the Sc
l Was following Ny hat gently with my
hair and felt SO many white feathers sproutiu!
on my back feared Of the cow-puncher
might come along and kill me for goose Now